Chapter 21: Koa meets a hunter
and Pipi and Inu
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WILD GIRL
Chapter 21: NOW, Koa:
Koa hung her recently washed and wrung out clothing on a line strung in the sun between two papaya trees next to the garden. Early that morning, she’d re-applied dye to her garments, heating and diluting the mixture on the stove. Everything she owned was wet but what she wore, a bathing suit top and shorts. Working the clothing in the dye bucket with a long stick and then rinsing and wringing the garments, she’d worked up a sweat. She’d go wash in the cave when all the clothing was hung.
The sun felt good; a warm touch on her back between her shoulder blades. She glanced around the garden as she completed hanging the clothes.
Nothing was disturbed: the new sweet potatoes continued to sprawl their tiny white-flowered vines free of the confines of their bed. Staked beans were almost done for this round. Gourds, squash and tomatoes were looking good with no mold on their leaves so far. Spinach was a dark green ruffle above the broken kukui nut shell mulch she’d piled around the stems to keep them clear of slugs and snails.
The distant sound of barking shattered the morning’s peace, sending a zip of apprehension up Koa’s spine.
Hunters were heading her way.
That didn’t happen often this far back in the Valley, but it wasn’t unheard-of. She usually lay low and stay out of sight until they passed by.
But there might be a problem this time: she hadn’t been able to trap that wily boar who’d been visiting the nearby kukui grove.
Koa spun to face the forest, frowning. That big boy had been back to root for nuts in the grove repeatedly. Each time, the boar had eaten her bait but evaded the snare.
What if his scent drew the dogs here?
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